The King and Queen of Malibu

The True Story of the Battle for Paradise

Over a half-century, Malibu went from an untamed ranch in the middle of nowhere to a paradise seeded with movie stars. Behind its transformation is the love story of Frederick and May Rindge. He was a Harvard-trained confidant of presidents; she grew up on a hardscrabble Midwestern farm; and yet their unlikely bond would shape history. The Rindges settled in Los Angeles, quickly amassing a fortune and ushering the frontier city into its modern form. After Frederick's sudden death, May spent her life clashing with some of the most powerful men in the country to preserve Malibu as she saw fit. Her struggle culminated in a landmark Supreme Court decision that created the iconic Pacific Coast Highway. The story of Malibu spans from the embers of the Civil War to the glamour of early Hollywood, starring millionaires, movie stars, and rough-and-tumble settlers at a time when the frontier seemed truly limitless